Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has claimed that French intelligence officials have been in contact with their counterparts in Syria but that his services had refused to cooperate.
In a wide-ranging French television interview this week, Assad said: "We held meetings with some officials from the French intelligence services, but there was no cooperation or exchange of information."
He added that France had sent representatives to Syria, but said no Syrian officials had travelled to France, accusing Paris of supporting "terrorists" opposed to his rule.
During the interview broadcast by France 2, Assad said he was open to talks if the West "convinces us they are not supporting the terrorists."
Last month, US Secretary of State John Kerry said he would talk to Assad to help end a conflict that has seen more than 220,000 Syrians killed. France’s President Francois Hollande has ruled out any official talks with Damascus.
"How can we establish dialogue with a country that supports terrorism in our country?" Assad asked in an apparent reference to France, which has said it has supplied weapons to Syrian rebel groups.
Assad, who succeeded his father in 2000, said that France had "become a kind of satellite for American foreign policy in the region. It is not independent, it has no weight and no credibility."